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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8766999" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>In the Norse view, when the nature beings take a human form, they really do become "humanoid", sotospeak. They behave emotionally and intellectually like humans do.</p><p></p><p>Nature itself − the features of the land and the sky and the sea − are absolutely nonhuman. A mountain is a mountain. However, when a feature projects out from its source in a way that takes on a form, a human form behaves like human in every way. If materializing to live the life of a human, the avatar sotospeak can bleed like human and can fall in love like a human and have human kids with an other human.</p><p></p><p>They are eccentric humans, of course. Their natural origin remains part of who they are and the wider perspective where they are coming from. Their personality and magic often resonates the source natural feature. Human offspring can inherit these characteristics.</p><p></p><p>The Norse elf has a perspective that can include foreseeing the future of certain individuals. But otherwise, when they take on a human form, they behave in a way that a human would who also has this information.</p><p></p><p>There is a saga about a jǫtnar called Bárðr. He is the mind of a specific mountain in Norway. He chose to become an actual human, lived a human life, sailed to Iceland, and had kids there. It seems, when he became a physical human body he disconnected in some way from the physical mountain − in other words, he emigrated the family of jǫtnar and immigrated to the family of humanity. By magic, he became a different kind of nature being, a human one. But he retains affinity with his mountainous origin. He got homesick for his life as a jǫtnar, and eventually returned to being a jǫtnar once again, this time becoming the mind of a different mountain in Iceland. He still retains a love for humanity and occasionally manifests to rescue humans who find themselves in danger while on this Icelandic mountain.</p><p></p><p>Similarly, a Norse account identifies Vǫlundr as an elf, who becomes a human. The text is complex with later euhemeristic additions. Nevertheless, the text evidences how the Norse perceive the elves to exhibit the same range of mentality and magic as the human shamans do, including the Norse female vǫlva as well as the male shamans among the Finlanders noita and the Sámi noaidi. The story describes Vǫlundr and his friends physicalizing from the sky in the form of swans. The six swans then shapechange into human forms. There are three men and three women. Like Vǫlundr, all appear to be elves. Hermeneutic analysis associates the women with the elven nornir, namely the fates, who are also the valkyrjur, a nickname for when the fates choose who dies honorably in battle. In this context, one or all three of these women elves are assigning fates that cause the three men to fall hopelessly in love with them. The women then disappear, probably returning back to the sky. But the elven men, going insane with love, then separate to go out in search of their lover. The story follows Vǫlundr. A human family captures, cripples, and (magically) enslaves him to create items of beauty and magic for them. The human man is a local king and the queen is probably the shaman who can entrap the elf. Vǫlundr suffers for many years as a human, but eventually breaks free while exacting a (not Good) gruesome vengeance upon the family. He murders their young children and rapes their adult daughter. He then shapeshifts into a swan and escapes back to the sky. His half-elf descendant later becomes an important national leader, which seems to have been part of the original intention of the elven women weaving these fates together.</p><p></p><p>The point is, the elves are fates and mages who can glimpse the future, at least the future of particular individuals. But they can and do fall in love in the same way that humans do. They exact revenge in emotional ways that some humans do. The elves even inflict future fates on each other, in the same way as they inflict fates on humans.</p><p></p><p>In D&D terms, these nature beings are humanoid, if manifesting in a humanoid form.</p><p></p><p>The cool thing is, to be a "nature being" is a background. A human can be a nature spirit. They might originate from some mountain, or sunlight, or waterfall. But while they are human, they can live a normal human life. At death, their minds return to the original nature feature. Perhaps the nature being gains an affinity with humanity and can mourn the death of their human avatar. Likewise, a nature being can take on any humanoid form: elf, dwarf, dragonborn, etcetera. Not all nature beings can manifest and shapeshift, only the ones who are magically powerful enough to do so. When a nature being manifests as a human, the human could be an infant and grow up naturally, or appear suddenly as an adult without a past.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 8766999, member: 58172"] In the Norse view, when the nature beings take a human form, they really do become "humanoid", sotospeak. They behave emotionally and intellectually like humans do. Nature itself − the features of the land and the sky and the sea − are absolutely nonhuman. A mountain is a mountain. However, when a feature projects out from its source in a way that takes on a form, a human form behaves like human in every way. If materializing to live the life of a human, the avatar sotospeak can bleed like human and can fall in love like a human and have human kids with an other human. They are eccentric humans, of course. Their natural origin remains part of who they are and the wider perspective where they are coming from. Their personality and magic often resonates the source natural feature. Human offspring can inherit these characteristics. The Norse elf has a perspective that can include foreseeing the future of certain individuals. But otherwise, when they take on a human form, they behave in a way that a human would who also has this information. There is a saga about a jǫtnar called Bárðr. He is the mind of a specific mountain in Norway. He chose to become an actual human, lived a human life, sailed to Iceland, and had kids there. It seems, when he became a physical human body he disconnected in some way from the physical mountain − in other words, he emigrated the family of jǫtnar and immigrated to the family of humanity. By magic, he became a different kind of nature being, a human one. But he retains affinity with his mountainous origin. He got homesick for his life as a jǫtnar, and eventually returned to being a jǫtnar once again, this time becoming the mind of a different mountain in Iceland. He still retains a love for humanity and occasionally manifests to rescue humans who find themselves in danger while on this Icelandic mountain. Similarly, a Norse account identifies Vǫlundr as an elf, who becomes a human. The text is complex with later euhemeristic additions. Nevertheless, the text evidences how the Norse perceive the elves to exhibit the same range of mentality and magic as the human shamans do, including the Norse female vǫlva as well as the male shamans among the Finlanders noita and the Sámi noaidi. The story describes Vǫlundr and his friends physicalizing from the sky in the form of swans. The six swans then shapechange into human forms. There are three men and three women. Like Vǫlundr, all appear to be elves. Hermeneutic analysis associates the women with the elven nornir, namely the fates, who are also the valkyrjur, a nickname for when the fates choose who dies honorably in battle. In this context, one or all three of these women elves are assigning fates that cause the three men to fall hopelessly in love with them. The women then disappear, probably returning back to the sky. But the elven men, going insane with love, then separate to go out in search of their lover. The story follows Vǫlundr. A human family captures, cripples, and (magically) enslaves him to create items of beauty and magic for them. The human man is a local king and the queen is probably the shaman who can entrap the elf. Vǫlundr suffers for many years as a human, but eventually breaks free while exacting a (not Good) gruesome vengeance upon the family. He murders their young children and rapes their adult daughter. He then shapeshifts into a swan and escapes back to the sky. His half-elf descendant later becomes an important national leader, which seems to have been part of the original intention of the elven women weaving these fates together. The point is, the elves are fates and mages who can glimpse the future, at least the future of particular individuals. But they can and do fall in love in the same way that humans do. They exact revenge in emotional ways that some humans do. The elves even inflict future fates on each other, in the same way as they inflict fates on humans. In D&D terms, these nature beings are humanoid, if manifesting in a humanoid form. The cool thing is, to be a "nature being" is a background. A human can be a nature spirit. They might originate from some mountain, or sunlight, or waterfall. But while they are human, they can live a normal human life. At death, their minds return to the original nature feature. Perhaps the nature being gains an affinity with humanity and can mourn the death of their human avatar. Likewise, a nature being can take on any humanoid form: elf, dwarf, dragonborn, etcetera. Not all nature beings can manifest and shapeshift, only the ones who are magically powerful enough to do so. When a nature being manifests as a human, the human could be an infant and grow up naturally, or appear suddenly as an adult without a past. [/QUOTE]
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